Fw: Will Texas GOP caucus select the next speaker?

Let us HOPE the Republican House Caucus will select the next SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE AND VOTE AS SUCH ON THE FIRST BILL IN THE HOUSE AT THE NEXT SESSION!!!!!!!! Please forward. Let your STATE REPRESENTATIVE KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS SUBJECT!!!!!!!!!!

Since 2009, Texas Democrats have effectively held the speakership of the Texas House. And despite the GOP having a near super-majority in the chamber from 2011 through today, Republican lawmakers acquiesced in subsequent legislative sessions to keep the Speaker’s Office occupied by the Democrats’ choice.

Caucus Pick? That could – could – change, as Cary Cheshire writes in an article on our website. Finally succumbing to the demands of conservatives and the state’s Republican Party platform, the Texas House Republican Caucus is slated on Friday to consider whether they will begin selecting a Republican nominee by majority vote in caucus… and then require caucus members to vote for that person on the House floor.

Keep It Simple, Stupid! It’s being quietly whispered this evening that lawmakers friendly with the leadership team of disgraced outgoing House Speaker Joe Straus will propose an overly complicated system of balloting. This would allow establishment candidates friendly with the Democrats a double do-over system of multiple additional ballots – even if a majority of the caucus has already rallied behind a conservative candidate!

Elections shouldn’t be complicated. Adding lawyerly complexity to the straightforward process of Republican lawmakers selecting a candidate for speaker is guaranteed to thwart the will of Texas’ conservative majority.

In a resolution, the state’s Republican executive committee wrote, “[T]he Republican Party of Texas expects Republican House Candidates in 2018 to indicate to the Republican Primary voters whether they will support the Republican Speaker candidate who wins the majority of the votes in the Republican Caucus.”

Eye On The Ball Conservatives must remain focused. Electing a speaker in caucus is a good tool, a nice first step, but it is not sufficient in and of itself. Republican House members won’t get a pass from voters if the caucus picks another Strausian obstructionist who thwarts the will of Texas conservatives.

Legislators must elect someone committed to advancing the agenda of conservatives to the floor for public debate and record votes.

Anything else will be unacceptable to voters, the GOP, and right-thinking lawmakers.